Thursday, March 13, 2008

More research was recently reported showing that vitamin D is a nutrient crucial for the body's ability to fight off cancer.

The study confirmed that people who live in higher latitudes (where they experience less sun exposure and therefore less vitamin D production) have higher incidences of cancer.

"Vitamin D is produced when exposed skin has a photochemical reaction to ultraviolet light rays from the sun. Nearly all the vitamin D circulating in our bodies is made this way, with a typical white-skinned person in a bathing suit under a noonday summer sun in Canada producing about 10,000 international units in 15 to 20 minutes. Non-whites need about five times longer to make the same amount, because the melanin in their skin acts as a sunscreen against UVB rays. During the fall and winter, sunlight at Canadian latitudes is too weak to cause any vitamin D production"

To read the rest of this article, follow this link: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080308.wxvitamin08/BNStory/National/?pageRequested=all